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Unforgotten Classics
THE TRIAL OF JESUS CHRIST
THE TRIAL OF JESUS CHRIST
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Men have too much forgotten that the central event in history assumed the form of a judicial trial.
The prodigious influence of the life and personality of Jesus of Nazareth is admitted by all. But His tragical death, early and passionately accepted by Christianity as the significant fact of His career, has become more than any other incident the starting-point of modern history—His tomb, as Lamartine put it, was the grave of the old world and the cradle of the new. Yet that memorable transaction was the execution of a capital sentence, proceeding upon a twofold criminal trial—upon one process conducted under Hebrew and one under Roman law.
In its forensic aspect, as in some others, it is peculiar — perhaps unique. There have been many judicial tragedies recorded in history, Capital trials, like those of Socrates, of Charles of England, and of Mary of Scotland, have always had a fascination for men. And this trial has impressed and attracted the world more than any or all of these. But these pages recall to general readers—what scholars have long known—that it has in addition a purely legal interest which no one of them possesses. By common consent of lawyers, the most august of all jurisprudences is that of ancient Rome. But perhaps the most peculiar of all jurisprudences, and in the eyes of Christendom the most venerable as well as peculiar, is that of the Jewish Commonwealth. And whenever these two famous and diverse systems happen for a moment to intersect each other, the investigation, from a legal point of view, of the transaction in which they meet is necessarily interesting. But when the two systems meet in the most striking and influential event that has ever happened, its investigation at once becomes not only interesting, but important. It becomes, undoubtedly, the most interesting isolated problem which historical jurisprudence can present.
The prodigious influence of the life and personality of Jesus of Nazareth is admitted by all. But His tragical death, early and passionately accepted by Christianity as the significant fact of His career, has become more than any other incident the starting-point of modern history—His tomb, as Lamartine put it, was the grave of the old world and the cradle of the new. Yet that memorable transaction was the execution of a capital sentence, proceeding upon a twofold criminal trial—upon one process conducted under Hebrew and one under Roman law.
In its forensic aspect, as in some others, it is peculiar — perhaps unique. There have been many judicial tragedies recorded in history, Capital trials, like those of Socrates, of Charles of England, and of Mary of Scotland, have always had a fascination for men. And this trial has impressed and attracted the world more than any or all of these. But these pages recall to general readers—what scholars have long known—that it has in addition a purely legal interest which no one of them possesses. By common consent of lawyers, the most august of all jurisprudences is that of ancient Rome. But perhaps the most peculiar of all jurisprudences, and in the eyes of Christendom the most venerable as well as peculiar, is that of the Jewish Commonwealth. And whenever these two famous and diverse systems happen for a moment to intersect each other, the investigation, from a legal point of view, of the transaction in which they meet is necessarily interesting. But when the two systems meet in the most striking and influential event that has ever happened, its investigation at once becomes not only interesting, but important. It becomes, undoubtedly, the most interesting isolated problem which historical jurisprudence can present.
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